''Tropidoturris scitecosta'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

of sea snail, a marine gastropod

mollusk Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is es ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Borsoniidae Borsoniidae is a monophyletic family of small to medium-sized sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Conoidea.Bouchet, P. (2011). Borsoniidae. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.or ...

.WoRMS (2015). Tropidoturris scitecosta. In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=435088 on 2016-04-05

Description

The size of the shell attains 23.5 mm, its width 7 mm. (Original description) The fusiform shell is acuminated at both ends. Its color is light brown without markings. The

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires are ...

is acutely turreted. It contains 8

whorl A whorl ( or ) is an individual circle, oval, volution or equivalent in a whorled pattern, which consists of a spiral or multiple concentric objects (including circles, ovals and arcs). Whorls in nature File:Photograph and axial plane flo ...

s. The apical ones are smooth rounded oblique. The rest are deeply and smoothly concave at the top, then slightly convex, furnished with numerous oblique rounded smooth close-set ribs, the ribs terminating in a well-defined angle at the top. The body whorl is about equal in length to the spire, slightly convex above and tapering below. It is spirally lirate towards the base and scarcely rostrate. The

aperture In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture and focal length of an optical system determine the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane. An ...

is oblong, its interior smooth and, brown. The

columella Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (; Arabic: , 4 – ) was a prominent writer on agriculture in the Roman Empire. His ' in twelve volumes has been completely preserved and forms an important source on Roman agriculture, together with the ...

is rather straight . The outer

lip The lips are the visible body part at the mouth of many animals, including humans. Lips are soft, movable, and serve as the opening for food intake and in the articulation of sound and speech. Human lips are a tactile sensory organ, and can be ...

is thin, arched, with a moderate posterior sinus situated close to the suture.G.B. Sowerby III (1904) Mollusca of South Africa; Marine investigations in South Africa , v. 2 (1904)

Distribution

This marine species occurs off

Transkei Transkei (, meaning ''the area beyond he riverKei''), officially the Republic of Transkei ( xh, iRiphabliki yeTranskei), was an unrecognised state in the southeastern region of South Africa from 1976 to 1994. It was, along with Ciskei, a Ba ...

, South Africa

References

* Kilburn R.N. (1986). ''Turridae (Mollusca: Gastropoda) of southern Africa and Mozambique. Part 3. Subfamily Borsoniinae''. Annals of the Natal Museum. 27: 633–720. * Rosenberg, G. 1992. Encyclopedia of Seashells. Dorset: New York. 224 pp.page(s): 104

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tropidoturris Scitecosta Endemic molluscs of South Africa scitecosta Gastropods described in 1903